Net Zero Compare

Sage Earth

Simplify Carbon Accounting

Polina Martinuka
Written by Polina Martinuka
Published January 1st, 2025
4 min read

Summary

Sage Earth is a carbon accounting tool designed to help businesses understand and manage their carbon footprints. If you’re wondering what a carbon footprint is, it’s the total amount of greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide) your business produces. These emissions can come from things like the energy you use, your office space, or even the commute of your employees.
Our principle

Cut through the green tape

We don’t push agendas. At Net Zero Compare, we cut through the hype and fear to deliver the straightforward facts you need for making informed decisions on green products and services. Whether motivated by compliance, customer demands, or a real passion for the environment, you’re welcome here. We provide reliable information—why you seek it is not our concern.

Details

Name
Sage Earth
Date of establishment
2022-12
Organization

Deep dive


Core Features

  1. Sage Earth provides a user-friendly dashboard where you can view your total carbon impact, broken down into categories like building services or private vehicle use.

  2. The software enables you to see your footprint in just a few clicks. By adding more detailed data, such as supplier emissions, you can refine these calculations and make them more accurate.

  3. Sage Earth helps you set realistic reduction targets. For instance, if your goal is net zero by 2040, the software can guide you in achieving a yearly reduction of 6%.

  4. Not only does it calculate emissions, but it also suggests ways to reduce them.

  5. The platform generates audit-ready reports that you can share with shareholders, customers, or employees.

Source: https://www.sage.com/en-gb/sage-business-cloud/sage-earth/
Source: https://www.sage.com/en-gb/sage-business-cloud/sage-earth/

How It Works

Sage Earth connects with your existing accounting software to calculate your business's carbon emissions. For exampleб, it can automatically pull data from your financial transactions to identify emission-heavy activities like transportation or energy usage. Then, it categorizes these emissions into three scopes as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol:

  • Scope 1: Emissions from things your business directly controls, like company vehicles.

  • Scope 2: Indirect emissions from the energy you purchase, like electricity.

  • Scope 3: Other indirect emissions, such as those from your supply chain or employee commuting.

Setting Up Process

Getting started with Sage Earth is quick and straightforward, even if you're new to carbon accounting. You can do it in three easy steps:

  1. Connect Your Financial Data
    Sage Earth connects to your accounting software in just a few clicks. Whether you use an API connection or upload your data manually, the system is built to sit on top of your existing accounting infrastructure, so there's no need to overhaul your current setup.

  2. Generate Your Carbon Footprint
    Using the "spend-based" method from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, Sage Earth analyzes your financial data to estimate your carbon emissions. The spend-based method estimates emissions by looking at how much money was spent on goods and services and multiplying it by average emissions for those types of purchases, based on industry data.

  3. Dive Into Your Dashboard
    Once your footprint is generated, the insights are automatically displayed on a visual dashboard. From here, you can refine the calculations by adding additional data for better accuracy. For example, you might input specific details about employee travel to shift from general estimates to more precise activity-based calculations.

Integrations

  1. Xero: Sage Earth connects with Xero to access your accounting data securely. Whether you're managing invoices, expenses, or payroll, the integration ensures that all relevant financial data is used to estimate your carbon footprint accurately.

  2. Intuit QuickBooks: If you're a QuickBooks user, Sage Earth can sync directly with your records, making it simple to convert your financial activities into actionable carbon insights. This helps you track emissions related to purchases, services, and more.

  3. Sage: Naturally, Sage Earth integrates seamlessly with other Sage products, ensuring your financial and carbon management systems work hand in hand without any additional setup.

Expert Insights

“With Sage Earth, I get reminded of what to do and when, it’s super intuitive.”

Jack Corfield, Vocacio

“Sage Earth provides us with standard-compliant reporting information we can trust, quickly and easily.‍”

Rich New, Ghyston

“We are proud to offer such a fantastic product to our members that is so affordable.”

James Monk, Business West

Source:

Plans & Pricing

Sage Earth offers a straightforward pricing model that’s ideal for small and medium-sized businesses. With a monthly rolling contract, you can sign up today and cancel anytime without any long-term commitment.

  • Monthly Plan: £9 per month (excluding VAT)
    This plan provides full access to Sage Earth’s carbon accounting tools, giving you the flexibility to track and manage your emissions at an affordable price.

Interested in getting started? Sign up here.

Closing Insights

Sage Earth is a solid choice for small and medium-sized businesses that are just beginning their sustainability journey or want an easy-to-use affordable carbon accounting tool. However, the platform may lack advanced customization or detailed activity-based tracking compared to more robust (and expensive) solutions, which could be a limitation for larger organizations with more complex needs.

Overall, Sage Earth is an excellent entry-level tool for businesses aiming to understand and manage their carbon emissions without breaking the bank.


Polina Martinuka
Written by:
Polina Martinuka
Sustainability Research Analyst
Recently graduating from a university in the UK, with a Bachelor's degree in Multimedia Journalism, Polina brings a unique blend of investigative skills, the ability to analyze complex data and environmental awareness.